The Song of the Burning City
by Lord Duro
Summary: Link's frame of mind before and after grabbing the Master Sword for the very first time, with some added stuff. Just got inspired so I wrote.


I can't get the look on her face out of my head.

Zelda was counting on me—we were supposed to save Hyrule together. But Ganondorf figured us out too soon. He overthrew Castle Town before we could stop him.

Now Zelda is gone and I was all alone.

Ganondorf only laughed when he saw me raise my sword.

"What are _you _going to do, little one?" He asked me mockingly before he rode off after Impa and Zelda on his great black steed.

I tried to go after him, but Navi stopped me.

"There's nothing that can be done for her now, Link! She did her end, now you must do yours!"

Following Navi's instructions, we enter Castle Town.

I didn't look behind me because I was afraid of what I might see.

Please, I sent a silent prayer to the goddesses, please don't let him get her.

The town is burning.

The melodic music that always seemed to pour from every open window is absent. Screams replace it now.

The Gerudo have laid siege to the city and all the king's men are not nearly enough to stave off the savage people. In the distance, I see the castle burning as well.

"This is madness," Navi whispers from within my cap.

I stay out of the main fight as much as possible, keeping to the shadows and walls of the main courtyard.

I see the beggar man I sold the fish to get kicked in the face and he goes down silently.

I have to bite my lip to keep from shouting. To keep from _fighting. _

But I am not big enough to take on the attackers.

_What are _you _doing to do, little one? _

Tears are streaming down my face, comingling with the mucus running down my nose as I enter the Temple of Time courtyard.

_Stop crying! _I yell at myself. I have to be an adult about this.

But I'm only twelve.

How can a twelve-year old save Hyrule?

Granted, I have done a bit of growing up since Navi found me sleeping in my hut bearing the word of the Great Deku Tree.

But I'm still only twelve. I have the will and determination. I don't have the body to fit it.

Don't worry about that now, I tell myself. Just do what Navi tells you to do. Navi knows what to do.

"_LINK!" _My fairy cries and I'm already moving. We have been together long enough that I know when to duck and dodge at her warning with no hesitation. We are not just fairy and Kokiri anymore. We are partners.

I roll forward and come to my feet, whirling.

I don't even remember grabbing my sword and my shield from off of my back, so ingrained the action is within me.

The weapons are an extension of my body. They are a part of me.

A Gerudo woman has her two swords scissored out before her, the two blades meeting where my head had just been. She was about to kill a child, without even thinking about it. The thought infuriates me.

She seems surprised at my quick reaction. I won't give her time to recover.

I leap forward, a battle cry escaping my lips as I bring my sword down over my head.

The woman flips backwards, then as soon as her feet touch the ground, she springs forward again, both swords stabbing forward.

I catch one of them on my shield and deflect the other. Her momentum carries her forward, though, and we both double over.

I kick at her exposed stomach but she rolls.

A mocking laugh comes from the fabric that covers her throat, and the purple reminds me of the pretty carpeting in the castle courtyard when I snuck in to see Zelda. It seems like forever ago.

There is no way I can win this fight. I've only survived so far by having the advantage of surprise.

I begin muttering words, saying the spell that the Great Fairy gave me.

The Gerudo woman does not know this and she leaps forward.

_"Hah!" _I bend down in the blink of an eye and touch the ground.

The fire domes over me and explodes outward. I hear the woman cry out in pain and surprise as Din's Fire catchers her head on.

When I look, her limp form is cast into the bushes. I hope she is not dead.

I take the steps two at a time, adrenaline fueling me even though casting the spell took a lot out of me.

I wish Saria was here. I'd even take Mido. I just wish I wasn't alone.

But I'm not alone. Navi races forward, her twinkling fairy dust a trail behind her.

"Here, Link, here!" I race across the grand entry hall, my footsteps echoing.

Everything seems so far away from here. I can barely hear the townspeople's screams in this echoing chamber.

There is a large granite podium before me, just before the ornately large, and resolutely closed, doors.

"Put the stones here, Link," Navi whispers.

I take them from my satchel and place them. Forest, Fire, and Water.

The inscription says, "_Ye who owns three Spiritual Stones stand with the Ocarina of Time and play the Song of Time." _

The ocarina. I have almost forgotten picking it up. It's what Zelda threw to me, isn't it?

It has some kind of power.

It is surprisingly heavy. The pretty blue sheen gleams in the moonlight cast in through the windows.

I bring the instrument to my mouth and close my eyes. Tears make my fingers slippery as they move over the holes, playing the song that has been playing over and over in my head since hearing it.

The melody reaches to the stars and they play along with me. It reaches out across generations and touches every fiber of every living thing.

It is the Song of Time.

With a great cracking, the heavy doors open beyond the granite podium open and I'm shocked out of my trance.

The music cuts off violently and I'm almost sad to see it gone.

"Let's go, Link," Navi says.

I nod. I don't feel like talking anymore.

All I feel like doing is _acting. _

A white light shines down on a pedestal a few dozen feet from the large doors.

I walk carefully. I guess I've just gotten used to expecting things to jump out at me in big empty rooms.

But nothing jumps out at me, and the closer I get, the more I make out what is resting in the pedestal.

I step up a short number of stairs, in awe of it.

It is a sword.

It is not just a sword, though.

It is art.

The double-edged metal almost shimmers in the light and the inscriptions written up and down the length of it almost seem to whisper in an ancient tongue.

The grip and handguard are a bright blue. The handgaurd looks almost like wings. As if anyone who uses the sword will be flown to great heights because of it.

"The Blade," Navi says, and I can tell by her voice that she is in just as much awe as I am, "of Evil's Bane."

I'm not sure what that means, but as soon as I lay eyes on it, I know this sword is mine.

It's not a want, or a need exactly. I just know it belongs to me.

So I reach up and grab it.

It's stuck and I pull harder on it.

"Link, I think someone's coming. Quickly!"

I squeeze my eyes shut and finally the sword budges.

It must have been unsure as to who I was and only now remembered me.

A roar of thunder with no sound rumbles out from the empty pedestal. The white light with no source brightens around me.

"We'll be okay," Navi whispers in my ear. "We're safe now." I feel her tiny, tiny hands on my ear lobe and I'm reassured.

I close my eyes and smile as the light washes all around me and through my tired bones, reviving me and soothing away all my aches and pains.

I loose myself in it all and I don't remember much of anything that happens during that time.

Then I hear Navi's quiet voice and I open my eyes.

When I do, I'm big.


End file.
